Vote today; yes, today

Our opinion: Primary elections across the region will help determine, if not outright decide, who wins several important offices. For Democrats and Republicans alike, this is your chance to influence your government.

Good morning, Capital Region. For tens of thousands of you, it’s time to vote. Representation in the state Legislature is on the line today. So, too, is the equally important office of Albany County district attorney.

First, pardon everyone caught off guard by voting on a Thursday. Massachusetts held its primary elections last Thursday, and statewide turnout was a woeful 15 percent.

Primary Day in New York should have been two days ago — on, yes, Sept. 11. What better way for New Yorkers to show their resilience and patriotism on such a solemn anniversary by taking the most fundamental step to reaffirm their commitment to democracy?

You can thank the state Legislature for tinkering with the election calendar. The prevailing sentiment there was, perversely, just the opposite — that Sept. 11 was no time for reflective New Yorkers to be voting.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who almost never faces a serious threat to his own re-election, said earlier this year that “September 11 has taken on a certain feeling.” Yet that didn’t stop him from hosting a fundraiser Tuesday night for a fellow Democratic Assembly member who’s now running for Congress.

Perhaps by 2018, when Sept. 11 again will fall on a Tuesday, this can be fixed and the day can be more appropriately observed.

Thank the Legislature, too, and particularly the Senate Republicans, for refusing to encourage voter participation by holding primary elections for Congress and the Legislature on the same day. That won’t help today, either.

Then are New York’s rigid election laws, which require enrollment in a party to vote in the primary elections that often determine who will hold certain offices — much more so than the November elections. Some other states allow unenrolled voters to cast ballots in either party’s primary.

The result is that every vote counts today, even more heavily than usual. Low turnout often means especially close elections. So, please, no griping that your vote won’t matter.

Ask Colonie Supervisor Paula Mahan or Schenectady Mayor Gary McCarthy about tantalizingly close elections. Both are in office today after winning races last November that were so close that the results weren’t certain for days.